What does yold mean?
Yold is the archaic simple past tense and past participle of yield, the modern English verb meaning to give, surrender, concede, give way, or produce. In older writing, a person or institution might “yold” land, rights, or a military position, while a disputed point or personal impulse might “yold” to persuasion. The word could also mean produce a result, as when fields “yold” an abundant harvest. Although dictionaries sometimes give yold its own headword, it is not an independent modern verb with a full set of conjugated forms: it belongs to the irregular verb yield and is normally replaced by yielded today. Its survival is chiefly literary and historical, and it is especially striking because its pronunciation and appearance make it resemble the unrelated adjective old. Yold therefore illustrates how common modern words preserve older grammatical forms, even after those forms have disappeared from ordinary speech.
verbThe archaic simple past tense and past participle of yield. Depending on context, it means gave or relinquished, gave way, or produced.
- To give, surrender, or relinquish something.
- To give way to pressure, force, or persuasion.
- To produce or yield a result, profit, or harvest.
"The defenders yold the gate rather than face a second assault."
"The defenders yold the gate rather than face a second assault."
"The fields yold a plentiful harvest that year."
In Middle English, “yold” was a perfectly ordinary past form of “yield,” long before it sounded archaic.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of yold
Yold descends from Middle English yold or yolde, an earlier past form of yield. It ultimately reflects Old English ġeald, the past participle of ġieldan, meaning to pay, deliver, or yield; that Old English verb belongs to the same Proto-Germanic family as gild and guild. Its historical range developed from making payment or giving to the modern meanings of surrendering, conceding, giving way, and producing.
How yold is actually used
This is an irregular past form used almost exclusively in older or deliberately archaic English. Modern prose normally uses yielded, and the form appears especially in narrative or historical writing. As a past-tense verb it takes -s in the third-person singular; as a past participle it follows have.
Easily confused with yold
Yold is an inflected form of yield, whereas old is the ordinary adjective meaning aged or belonging to the past.